I know every blog has been posting fall favourites for the past 2 months. But fall really started here about 3 weeks ago, and I live in cold Ottawa, Canada. By fall I mean actual cold weather (temperature below 10deg), leaves all turning orange and cold rain....so I'm "technically" not late with my fall favourites post :)

Some of these products are new (well to my stash) and some I've been enjoying for a few years. I just have rediscovered them:

1. Nars Brousse eyeshadow duo - This duo is a favourite because I love smokey eyes, especially softer shades of smokey for fall. I usually wear the black violet shade on my lid, the sable shade in the crease and then smudge a black liner close to my lashline. It's a very easy duo to wear and the result is HOT! This is a product I come back to every fall.

2. Chanel Plum Attraction blush - another old favourite, Plum Attraction looks very bold in the pan but I use a powder brush to apply a bit on my cheekbones and love the effect it gives. It goes very well with Nars Brousse on the eyes too ;)

3. Dior Etoile fusion mono eyeshadow - I've been eyeing the Dior fusion shadow for months and two weeks ago I finally pulled the plug on shade Etoile, a gorgeous shimmering white. Etoile looks amazing on the tearduct or as an overall wash on the lid with my favourite matte shade in the crease (usually UD Naked or MAC Plum Poison). I debated between the Dior or the nearly identical Chanel product but went with Dior in the end as this particular shade was more pigmented and also you pay less for more product with Dior.

4. Makeup Forever Aqua Liner #4L - I'm a huge fan of the MUFE aqua liner for pigmentation and durability and 4L in particular gets a lot os use as I adore burgundy with my amber shade eyes. I usually wear this liner on the lower lashline and then smudge with MAC 229 brush.

5. Annabelle Cherry pencil - This shade is totally me, it's a reddened plum and goes with all the makeup described above. I get a good 4 hour wear with these pencils and the pigmentation is phenomenal. Definitely a drugstore gem!

6. YSL #27 (Peche chera-cola) Rouge Pur Couture - Another product it took me a while to try but glad I did. It's a pricy lip product but I love how soft and creamy this feel on my lips and it truly lasts a long time. I also usually have a hard time with peach shade but this one is very flattering on cool complexions.

Some swatches for you guys:

Oh and in other news I put in an order over at Sephora with my friends and family 20% coupon. I caved in and got the Hourglass powder palette and one of Nars eye paints. Cannot wait to get them and play. Did any of you guys get something from Sephora lately?

Hi guys! I'm currently fighting some kind of virus and feeling absolutely miserable. It's tough being sick and having a baby but I find episodes like this really have built my character as a person.

This look is from a few days ago. As you can see I have chopped my hair quite a bit. The ends were getting pretty dry and I was due for a trim. I'm still loving the dark shade and the fact that this neon blouse is making me look quite a bit tanner than I currently am. I did an olive toned eye paired with shimmery coral lips to compliment the blouse (and the olive pencil skirt I was wearing).

For Face: I used a thin layer of Nars Tinted Moisturizer (Alaska) and set with Ben Nye's Translucent Powder. I contoured my cheeks using Chanel Notorious powder and added Nars Deep Throat blush to the apple of my cheeks.

For Eyes: I used MAC Painterly p/p as a base and contoured the eyes crease with MAC Velvet Moss e/s (DC). I then added a moist layer of OCC Lafayette pigment all over the lids. I highlighted the middle section of the lid with MAC Amber Lights e/s and the browbone with MAC Blanc Type. I lined the lower lashline with Lise Watier Black Gold e/l (DC) and added two coats of Lancome Hypnose Drama mascara.

For lips: I first lined them with MAC Temperature Rising l/l and then dabbed Chanel Teheran RC on top.

I'm trying to ease into the swing of the FOTD's so hope you guys liked this simple look. I have some fall lipstick reviews coming up for next week :)

Hi guys! I know it's been two months since I last posted. At least I have some excuses:

1. I have gone back to work and it's exhausting keeping up with a full time job, taking care of baby, cooking, cleaning, maintaining regular workout,... you get my point.

2. I just wasn't feeling "it" for the last little while. Blogspehere looks very commercialized to me these days; very different from when I started back in 2008. I find that all the jazz and light has turned me off a bit on commenting a lot of blogs I used to read and blogging myself.

That being said, I missed blogging and through the years BeautySpot has become such a big part of my life that I thought I should at least attempt to make one post per week. I'm so grateful for those of you guys who still commented/messaged even when during my absence. Interacting with you guys really is my favourite part of blogging.

HAIR Anyway, this wasn't just an apologetic post. I posted some pictures of my new "fall" hair on Instagram a couple of weeks ago but thought I share them here too. I got them dyed over the Labour Day long weekend to a dark red shade with a purple base. My mom is my hair stylist as usual and once again she nailed it! I had SO missed my dark hair. I meant the highlight was an ok change but I will always be a dark haired girl at heart.

Now I know everyone and their mother is showing their excitement about fall, but unlike many places here in Ottawa Canada the weather is actually fall-like. We are down to a high of 14C most days and I'm thrilled. I've never been a beach babe and am down with the return of crisp and cool air.

NAILS to celebrate the return of dark shades, I got myself a new nailpolish from Essie's fall collection. I do own quite a few polishes and even though I purge often, my collection is still spilling over :/ So I'm quite picky about what I buy. It has to be absolutely unique and I think Essie's Vested Interest is:

It's a dust green shade and on me, I see blue undertones. If you have cool undertones you will likeley see the same on you. Either way this is a great fall shade and should look good on about every single skintone. The formula on this is ah-mazing! Seriously Essie has been so consistent for me the past few years formula-wise. I'me never disappointed. This was pretty much a one coater but I did a second thin coat because old habits die hard:

Hope you guys enjoyed this random post. I gotta go get Sofia now who's been singing to herself in her crib. Will have some makeup post coming your way next week!

Hi guys! Sorry I've been MIA for a couple of weeks now. I'm still suffering from post-viral effects of the longest running cold I've had all my life. I've seriously been sick since middle of May!!! Now I have dry coughs that actually keep me up most of the night, NOT fun.

Anyhuw, time for another baby update, the 10 months one:

Baby stats: I have no idea how much she weighs, I would say around 22lbs. We did switch to size 4 Pampers a month ago and she's in 12-18 months or 18months plus clothing.

Health: Sofia also suffered with on and off cold this past month. Poor thing even has the post viral cough but not quite as bad as mine.

Eat/Weaning: Sofia has an amazing appetite. Her most preferred food is still meat but she eats everything we eat. I'm also still weaning her off the boob and right now she's only breastfed in the morning and has three bottles of formula for the rest of the day (at noon, 4 pm and 6:30 pm).

Sleep: still good, she sleeps through from 7 pm to around 6:30 am. When the cold was at its worth, I did hear her cough through the night but not enough to wake her up (just woke me up, waaaa). She also has two daily naps.

Teeth: still only the bottom two. No sign of any others.

Milestones: Let me see...
- more words: mama, dada, hi (all in context), also baba, nana, duh, poo
- cruising between furniture
- imitating everything we do and trying to say what we say.
- plays music on her walker and starts to sway (dance) from side to side. Gets psyched if I tag along :D
- waving hello to everyone and their moms, she even waves to dogs, pigeons,...

How I'm doing:

- I'm back to work in 2 weeks, eeeek! I'm excited but also sad. Made all daycare arrangements this past weekend and everything is ready to go. I will be doing two weeks of part-time before switching back to full-time work.
- Exercise is still on full force. I'm at my goal weight of 148lbs and have achieved a 6 pack (it's faint but it's there). I'm in the best shape of my life and happy that my efforts have paid off.
- I've been off sleep meds for nearly 2 months now. I still decently most of the time now but the cold/dry cough has put a bit of damper on that. I admit I'm tired about 50% of the time.

There you have it. Hope you guys enjoyed this post. I'm faaaar behind in my makeup/hair/nail posts but will try to squeeze a few in this coming week, Hope you all have a great weekend!

Hi guys! I'm very minimal with makeup these days but still love me at least a few beauty products per day :D Thought I share my early summer favourites with you guys:

Lip Products

My favourite category!! Summer is the only season where I actually wear lipgloss. I love Nars Babe as it's a gorgeous pigmented warm red gloss and is not sticky. Another rediscovery is my ancient MAC Sock Hop (LE - Heatherette, 2008) which is a beautiful light coral cream. When it comes to lipsticks, I also go for warmer and creamier. Guerlain Rose Bengal Rouge Automatique is a warm rose that applies with some shimmer but is not gritty. Chanel Antigone Rouge Coco Shine is a lightly pigmented strawberry red and MUFE #37 Rouge Artist is a loud pink coral that will definitely make your lips stand out.

Eye Products
I'm currently a fan of one product only eye makeup and hence gravitate towards cream shadows and bright eyeliners. L'Oreal Permanent Khaki Colour Infalliable is a shimmery olive green that is great as a lid colour blended up. Maybelline Barely Branded Color Tattoo (light golden beige) is an awesome all over colour and eye brightener. Chanel Illusoire Illusion d'Ombre is a tres chic sparkling mauve, love this one smoked out with a dark matte purple for the night. Shiseido H4 cream shadow (DC'd) is a unique blend of warm pink with green flash that looks wet when applied to the eyes. MUFE #22 aqua cream pot is the most gorgeous emerald green that I love applying on as a liner, base for green shadow or for the sparkling Lise Watier Golden Green Eye Glitter. I tend to apply Gosh Blue Lagoon Velvet Touch eyeliner on my lower lashline to elevate a neutral look.

I'm super low maintenance with face products in the warmer months. Lately been loving my Lancome Teint Miracle foundation (I use shade 4C - Buff) as it's light and natural on. I also apply MUFE Full Cover concealer ins shade #6 under my eyes and on scars and go a bit overload with Nars Laguna bronzer (another rediscovery in my stash). I need to bronze a lot these days as I did a spray tan on my body and now my face and body don't match, lol!

Nail Products

I'm traditional so in the summer I go nuts over brights and neons. I've also been loving a full on white manicure using OPI Alpine Snow, so elegant and goes with everything. My current fave neons are Zoya Lola (gorgeous bright pink) and China Glaze I'm with the Lifeguard (super neon green, great on toes). I also enjoy the bright orange red that is Essie Meet me at the Sunset.

Hi guys! Sorry I've been MIA this week. Both baby Sofia and I are suffering from a bad cold and I've been too tired to even read my blogroll let alone make posts myself. I'me getting better though so expect some makeup posts by end of this week.

Speaking of blogroll, I have a link to my blog on Blogloving on the right hand side here. Please follow me on there if you want to see any of my updated posts as google friend connect is going away as of July 1st.

I wear red lips all year long. I tend to gravitate towards deeper and matter lips when the temperature drops and shinier and pinker reds during the summer. I've been sporting this combo for the past few weeks on repetition:

I achieve this juicy pink toned red using two of my all time favourite products: Chanel Cambon Rouge Coco and Emoi Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss.

Cambon is a creamy red with strong pink tones. I know I have raved about it before so no need to repeat myself. Emois is a raspberry gloss with a creamy and non-sticky texture. It really helps bring out the pink tones in Cambon even more:

Oh, my highlights are growing on me now. I actually like them better when my hair is au natural (as in air dried and wavy):